Don Newman: No election plans? Just watch him

[tuvor]

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says his decision to prorogue Parliament had nothing to with cancelling Commons committees or avoiding a showdown over an opposition motion demanding the government turn over documentation on Afghan detainees.

Instead, he says in recent interviews, including with the CBC's Peter Mansbridge, that Parliament was given an extra four weeks off so he could "recalibrate" his government's approach, particularly on the budget and the economy.

He also said he doesn't want a spring election, so there will be no "poison pill" in the budget in March that would force the opposition to defeat the Conservatives on a confidence motion.

But both his decision to prorogue, and the way events are unfolding from that decision, look more like the actions of someone looking for an electoral confrontation — not someone trying to make a minority government work.

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http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/01/07/f-vp-newman.html